VHS virus found in lake trout in Skaneateles Lake

State Department of Environmental Conservation and Cornell University officials confirmed this week that viral hemorrhagic septicema, a fish-killing disease, has been confirmed in another species in Skaneateles Lake.

The disease, commonly referred to as VHS, was found in a lake trout recently tested from the lake. The original diagnosis was made at a Cornell University lab and later confirmed at the U.S. Geological Survey Lab in Seattle, Wash.

In June, the virus, which causes a fish to hemorrhage uncontrollably, was confirmed following a fish kill of hundreds of rock and smallmouth bass in the lake. There's been no reports at this point of any noticeable fish kill involving lake trout.

The incurable disease is not a threat to humans and officials have repeatedly stressed it's OK to eat fish infected with the disease.

The disease, which started in the Great Lakes, has also been found this year in a rainbow trout from the Little Salmon River, a carp from Lake Erie's Dunkirk Harbor, a small pond in Ransomville in western New York and in a sunfish found in the Cayuga-Seneca Canal.

The DEC's role at this point amounts to continued monitoring of the disease and testing of dead fish.

Recently, the DEC finalized restrictions considering the transportation of bait fish from one waterway to another to try and prevent the disease. Any angler using bait fish needs to have a receipt from the bait store they bought it from to certify it's VHS-free. Otherwise, they face a fine.